Syracuse Crunch goalie Kristers Gudlevskis kept his team in its game against Hamilton deep into the night on Saturday, making save after save through regulation, overtime and eight rounds of a shootout.

Gudlevskis has often played his best when tired, but eventually a quick snapper by the Bulldogs' Mike Blunden caught Gudlevskis just a half-blink too slow.

Blunden sent everyone home in the bottom of the ninth round of the tie-breaker to push Hamilton past Syracuse 2-1.

Hamilton won the shootout 1-0, after Gudlevskis and Hamilton netminder Robert Mayer combined to stop the previous 17 shootout attempts.

But after Syracuse went 0-for-9, Blunden flipped a quick shot past Gudlevskis' glove side for the win. Gudlevskis, who beat Hershey in overtime on Friday, made 28 saves through regulation and overtime.

"I think I gave the team a chance to win the game,'' Gudlevskis said. "That's the most important thing. The shootout, you feel comfortable, confident about yourself. That's the way it goes.''

"He was big in the net. We have to give him credit tonight,'' Marchessault said. "I think he played really good. Obviously, our goalie was awesome. It (stinks) not to have those two points.''

Hamilton's Louis Leblanc tied the game with 9:24 left in the third, cueing home a rebound from the left side off a bid by Morgan Ellis.

Connolly gave the Crunch a 1-0 lead with 13:18 left in the third on a slick sleight-of-hand. He skated through the left circle, took a pass from Vladdy Namestnikov and quickly dealt a hard flip high over Mayer's glove side.

Penalty killing pressure by Gourde set up a chance for Syracuse earlier in the third.

With 14:39 remaining and the Bulldogs on a power play, Gourde puckhandled behind Mayer. Mayer tried to make a play on Gourde, but as he did his stick flew out toward him.

Referee Tom Chmielewski ruled that Mayer intentionally threw his lumber at Gourde, and awarded him a penalty shot.

Gourde tried to solve Mayer 5-hole, but the goalie shut it down to keep the game scoreless.

Apart from the two goals, the most rousing action of the game came in the second period when Syracuse's P.C. Labrie threw down with Hamilton's Nick Tarnasky. Labrie said the problem started when Tarnasky began taunting the Crunch bench.

"I just asked him what was going on. He was just chirping, telling guys to (get lost),'' Labrie said.

Labrie initially tossed Tarnasky to the ice, then let him up so the the pair could swap a long series of blows.

"When he was on his knee, I laid off,'' Labrie said. "I didn't want to hit him. I gave him a chance to stand up.''

Earlier in the game, Labrie yapped a lot with 5-foot-9 Hamilton forward Martin St. Pierre. Labrie said during warmups, St. Pierre tried to make friendly small talk.

"As soon as he had a chance (in the game), he sucker-punched me. It's just the game. There's no friends,'' Labrie said.